Inter, Lautaro Martinez remains an'incognita: Cristian Chivu prepares the'alternative

After two consecutive league defeats against Udinese and Juventus, Inter regained their smile in the Champions League, beating Ajax 2-0 at home with a Marcus Thuram double. Ahead of Sunday night’s match against Sassuolo, however, Nerazzurri coach Cristian Chivu is forced to deal with the physical problems of the other starting striker, captain Lautaro Martinez.

‘El Toro’ watched from the bench the entire match on Wednesday due to back discomfort. The discomfort, however, is lingering longer than initially budgeted.That is why Pio Esposito, who already played the full ninety minutes against the Lancers, is being kept ready. Barring any last-minute surprises, it will therefore be the class of 2005 who will start in attack along with Thuram.

Inter’s schedule allows Chivu to reason on a ‘soft’ comeback for the Argentine, without rushing things: after the San Siro match against Sassuolo, in fact, there are the away match in Cagliari on Saturday 27 and the Champions match on Tuesday 30 against Slavia Prague. The Romanian coach’s idea is to preserve Lautaro as much as possible so that he can be 100 percent in the delicate October challenges against Roma and Napoli.

Nineteen-year-old Lautaro Martinez started this year his eighth season with the Inter shirt, a club with which he won two Scudetti (2021 and 2024), as many Italian Cups (2022 and 2023) and three editions of the Italian Super Cup (2021, 2022 and 2023). From the 2023-2024 season, he is the captain of Inter, having inherited the sash from Samir Handanovic.